by Emma Vikes
I tugged at my ear, feeling nervous to be in the same room as Everett’s mother and soon to be sister-in-law, and her mother. I always felt awkward around parents. I’d never been taken by the guys I’d dated to meet their parents. But Everett and I weren’t a couple, and here I was, in the same room with the women in his family, standing awkwardly while the three of them went around the table setting it up.
“Oh,” Carole clasped her hands together and looked at me, her blue eyes shining with glee, “oh, I’m just really thrilled that we’re setting up another plate for Everett’s guest.”
Eleanor’s mom- Imogen, I think that’s her name - chuckled and shook her head. “You make it sound like your son has never dated anyone.”
To Imogen’s surprise, Carole nodded her head. “He never did. Not even when he was in high school. He used to drive Julian to his dates but never drove himself to one. It seems silly but since he was young, Everett’s had such a high sense of responsibility. I used to worry a lot about him but now…”
I could feel Carole’s gaze on me and honestly, I didn’t want to pop the bubble she was in, but I knew I had to. I had to tell them that I was merely Everett’s colleague, the new forensic scientist that had been hired by the department. I blamed Everett for this getting out of hand. He was the one who insisted that I spend Thanksgiving dinner with him and his family, when I was more than okay spending it alone with ramen and Netflix. But Everett insisted and when we arrived, he merely introduced me as Alexa and announced that I was joining them.
So now I had to do damage control before Carole literally started planning our wedding. Like okay, I was mildly attracted to Everett. I mean, come on, he was gorgeous and I kissed him the first time we met, because he’s gorgeous. He was sweet and thoughtful and he listened to my stupid conspiracy theories every day even when they didn’t make sense sometimes.
The feel of his soft skin against the palm of my hand, the heat that he radiated had made my fingers curl in delight. The way his throat had let out a low growl without knowing. The way his eyes had darkened when my eyes flickered to his, as my palm grazed down the hard planes of his stomach.
“Alexa…”
My eyes fluttered close as I tried to will away the memory of the moment that we had in my apartment. Everett left past midnight that time, because we had just kept talking about all the conspiracy theories that I had found on the internet. Everett had been hell bent on debunking everything because he was a total kill joy.
The sound of a dog barking and a child squealing pulled me out of my reverie. A curly-haired boy was running straight to where we were, chasing after a dog and giggling like crazy, calling out his name. “Julio! Julio!”
“Max! Stop running!” Eleanor called out, her arms opening wide as the little boy crashed against her, laughing like crazy, almost toppling her over. She rolled her eyes and ruffled his curly locks, smiling at him as she tilted his chin up to meet her gaze, “I told you, less running Max.”
Eleanor looked up and smiled at me, gently pushing the little kid to where I was, pointing at me. “Say hi to your Uncle Ev’s friend, Max. Alexa, this is my son, Max.”
I bit my lip to contain my smile. He looked adorable and he reminded me so much of Aaron- my little brother- when he was younger. I took a step closer to him and did a little wave, “Hi, Max. It’s nice to meet you.”
He smiled at me shyly and hid behind his mother but he did give me a mini-wave in response. Eleanor laughed and then let him dash off to his grandmother. “He’s a little shy when it comes to meeting girls. I’m sort of thankful that he isn’t like his father.”
“You must’ve been with Leo for so long already, but why…”
“Wait until our kid’s nearly seven years old to get married?” Eleanor finished for me and I blushed, ready to apologize, but she shook her head and then grabbed the fruit basket near us and toyed with it. “Leo left me before I had Max. He didn’t know that we had a child until we saw each other again at Milo and Megan’s wedding.”
I tried to make sure that my mouth didn’t hang open as I stared at Eleanor, but she laughed and ignored my reaction, continuing on with her story. “Even then, I didn’t tell him that Max was his, until I accidentally spilled the beans two months later. We have had a very amusing and entertaining love story, but I’m just happy that in the end, I’m going to marry him in two months. He’s the only man I’ve ever loved and ever will.”
Eleanor spoke about Leo with a spark in her eyes, and I couldn’t but feel a tad bit jealous that she got to talk about someone she was in love with. She handed me a fruit basket and took another one and then pointed to the kitchen. “What about you? Where did you and Everett met? He was pretty vague while introducing you earlier, and then Carole just fussed over you. Can’t blame her though.”
“Why would you be worried about him?”
Eleanor winked at me. “They grew up in a house filled with testosterone, but everyone couldn’t help but wonder when one brother lacked skills in the dating department and what it meant. I’m sure Carole and the boys would’ve accepted him if he batted for the other team”
“Don’t worry, I asked him the same thing once.”
She raised an eyebrow at me and smirked. “And I’m certain you found the answer in the best way.”
For a moment, my mind processed what she said and my eyes widened when I understood what she meant and I sputtered beside her, blushing madly. I was just about ready to debunk her assumption when I stopped dead in my tracks. I heard Everett’s voice saying, “We’re dating! She’s my girlfriend.”
We’re dating.
She’s my girlfriend.
Without thinking, I let go of the fruit basket that I was holding and it hit the tiled floor with a loud thud. “Oh no.”
I turned around and headed to the kitchen to make sure of what I had heard and my eyes connected with Everett. Glancing around the room, it was clear to me that everyone was waiting for my reaction after what may have been Everett’s ‘confession’. I smoothened my expression into a calm one- what I believed was a calm one- and crossed the room.
I turned to Everett and he looked worried. We’d worked together long enough for him to know what I looked like when my emotions were all riled up. “A minute, love?”
Everett stared at me for a moment and when he didn’t make a move, I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and marched him upstairs. I could see the bewildered looks of Imogen and Carole, and Everett’s brothers and Eleanor cheering and teasing us back at the kitchen. Everett began to lead me to where his room was and he locked the door when we both got inside, leaning his head against it and sighing.
When I looked at Everett and our eyes met, I wasn’t sure what I was meant to think or even feel. I crossed my arms across my chest and looked at him evenly, wanting to make sure that I was in the right frame of mind to discuss what had just happened. “Did you bring me here so your family could stop pestering you about your lack of a love life?”
Everett looked helpless as he stared at me and he sighed, crossing the room and sitting on his bed. He patted the space beside him but I didn’t take a seat. Not yet, anyway. “No. To be honest, the reason I invited you was that I didn’t want you to spend Thanksgiving alone, Alexa. No one should spend a holiday alone with ramen and Netflix. I’m single and focused on work, but that doesn’t appeal even to me.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Then why did you say that?”
He ran a hand through his hair and pushed his glasses gently with his index finger. He was quiet for a moment and I knew that he was trying to choose his words carefully. “I wasn’t really thinking clearly. One moment Julian was making comments about you, and Leo was just adding fuel to that fire. They continued pestering me as to why I didn’t want them to bother you in that sense and then…”
When Everett looked at me, the intensity in his gaze seemed to dissolve the entirety of the room, and I couldn’t see anything but his eyes. “And then the words just came out o
f my mouth, Lexi. For some reason, I remembered Olivia crying about her ex-boyfriend, and I just thought of someone breaking your heart….. And I don’t know if this makes sense, but…..” he trailed off.
Fuck.
Why was he this thoughtful? Or maybe he was…
Jealous? Ha, you wish, Alexa.
“Your mother was thrilled that you finally brought a girl to meet them,” I said quietly, refusing to look at him, because I was afraid that he would read the emotions racing through my eyes. Everett was making me feel all sorts of things. “I’m pretty sure that your brothers would be telling her by now.”
Everett closed his eyes and then fell back on the bed. “I shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve taken it back but then I saw you and I panicked…I should’ve introduced you as my colleague rather than letting them see you as anything but. God, how could I be so careless. I know how quick my family is in jumping to conclusions and I should’ve…”
I sat beside him and then placed a hand on his thigh. A sudden rush of electricity flashed between us. Startled, he sat up quickly, trying to act as if he hadn’t felt what I had felt. But he was staring at my hand and trying to regain his breathing. “Everett, it’s fine.”
He blinked, looking dazed and confused for a split second. “What’s fine, Alexa? That I literally just told my family that you’re my girlfriend, when you’re not, when you’re just my colleague. If I go downstairs and tell them that I was just joking, my mother will be very upset and that’s the last thing that I want. I literally just dug a hole for myself and dragged you in with me by making you my fake girlfriend.”
I swallowed, knowing that what I was about to do might be the very thing that I would regret in the near future. But that was for future Alexa to worry about. “Okay.”
Everett’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re going to have to walk me through that okay, Lexi.”
I tugged at my ear nervously and played with my hands. “Okay, I will be your fake girlfriend, Everett.”
He let out a strangled noise and I couldn’t help but look at him. “What did you just say?”
“I said, I’ll be your fake girlfriend. I saw how thrilled Carole was with the fact that you had brought a girl over. I know I’ve only met her but I don’t want to break her heart with the truth that her son is still single and probably will always be until the end of time, because work is life for him.” I put on a teasing tone at the end of my statement, just to lighten the mood. Everett let out a small nervous laugh, shaking his head.
“That’s too much to ask of you, Alexa,” Everett said after a moment of silence and then he sighed, looked at me and said, “But will you be my fake girlfriend?”
I would’ve said yes quicker if he had removed the word ‘fake’ from the question. “Okay.”
The smile on his face was enough to make me melt. He stood up and then held out a hand for me to take. “Then should we have dinner, love?”
Blinking, I took his hand and repeated the same word, “Okay.”
Everett laughed and the two of us made our way out of his room and my heart raced as I realized that we were holding hands for the third time today. The jolt of electricity that flew through us made my heart pound harder. As the two of us descended the stairs, I felt Everett squeeze my hand briefly and I looked at him. It was in that same moment that the sun was setting low. The sunlight passing through the windows of their penthouse basked Everett in a golden glow.
Holy fuck, you’re digging a deeper hole for yourself, Alexa Stone.
8
Everett
Did you ask Alexa if she’ll be one of my bridesmaids?
I stared long and hard at the message that Eleanor had sent me. She had called me early in the morning to inform me that one of her bridesmaids had backed out and the wedding was only a month away. So, she desperately needed another bridesmaid and she was wondering if Alexa would be okay with being a part of the entourage. She reassured me that she’d be my partner while walking down the aisle.
Deleting the message, I ran a hand through my hair in annoyance. When Alexa agreed to be my fake girlfriend on Thanksgiving, we both thought that it would be a one-time thing. Leo basically lived with Eleanor at her house so he wasn’t around much to pester me about the details of our relationship. Julian had already left for LA to record a new album and Mom was busy with her own life and her hydrangeas. So, there was no one to fool anymore, or so we thought.
Until now.
Everett, will you please reply or I’m heading to the police department to ask her myself.
That’s it, I’m on my way over.
I dropped my phone when I read her text. “What’s going on with you?”
Looking up from my phone, I met Alexa’s eyes, her hair was tied in a messy knot on the top of her head, a few loose strands cascading and framing her face. She had just arrived fifteen minutes ago from a meeting with Wang about the case that we had been working on. I was meant to join them but had been called by the research institute.
“Eleanor’s coming here,” I said, looking up at her nervously. We hadn’t really discussed about what had happened during Thanksgiving. When I drove her home, Alexa thanked me for inviting her over, and I had every intention on asking her about the whole deal of her agreeing to be my fake girlfriend. But she left my car so fast that she was inside her apartment building before I could even form the words.
Alexa stared at me for a minute. It was like her brain was visibly processing what I had just said and then suddenly, she went pale and her hazel eyes widened. “Well, shit, does this mean I have to call you love again?”
It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off my chest when she said that. “You’re still game for this?”
She shrugged and then sipped on the Jamba Juice that she had gotten when she had gone out. “I sort of expected that it’d be rude if we fake broke up before the wedding. I mean, Eleanor did kind of invite me during dinner.”
I almost forgot that Eleanor had done that. When we were having dinner, I was busy overthinking. I couldn’t help but feel anxious. If my family asked us questions regarding our ‘relationship’ I was sure our answers wouldn’t be the same. But no one really asked us. Instead, everyone just wanted to know more about Alexa, and it was quite refreshing to know more about her because she never really talked about herself.
“Are you really serious about this?”
Alexa tilted her head to one side and raised an eyebrow. “But we’re not serious, Everett.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the comeback. “Lexi, you really don’t have to. At that time, I didn’t want to upset Mom, but now I think I can think of a good explanation for them. I’ll tell them that things didn’t work out between us and I’m just too busy with work.”
“And then Leo would probably ask how that could be if we both work in the same office,” Alexa pointed out and shook her head, “Everett, I’m fine with this whole situation. And besides, take it as my ‘thank you’ for you being so nice to me since I started working here.”
“I wasn’t too nice to you in the beginning.” I grimaced.
She scrunched her nose and I couldn’t help but smile at the cuteness. “You’re right. Want to fake break up?”
I stood up from my seat and strode to her table and sat on her desk. I rested my face on my hand and pouted at her. “But then I’d have to suffer a fake heartbreak and I don’t have the time for that.”
Alexa burst out laughing and shook her head at me. “You’re impossible, Everett Hudson.”
The door swung open just as I leaned over to her to whisper something. “Ah, I didn’t really take you two for people who would flirt during work hours, but I stand corrected.”
Eleanor stood by the door decked in a suit that made her look as powerful as the lawyer that she was. I was so startled by Eleanor’s entrance that I fell on the floor in surprise. She laughed at me and just like that the powerful aura that she had entered with evaporated, and in front of me stood my soon
-to-be sister-in-law.
Eleanor approached me and gave me a hug, running a hand through my messy hair and shaking her head. “Megan’s going to have a fit when she sees your hair, Ev.”
“Leo’s hair is long but you don’t see Megan dragging him to the salon,” I cringed, remembering how Megan had forced me to go through hair treatments when she had gotten a hold of me the last time I was in Chicago.
I waited for Eleanor to reply but I realized her attention was on Alexa who was watching and listening to our conversation. “Alexa! Hope you get work done despite the fact that your boyfriend sits right across from you. I know how sexy the honeymoon phase can be with an Hudson.”
I made a face. The last thing I needed right now was to listen about her sexual endeavours with my older brother. But Alexa merely smiled pleasantly at Eleanor, the Southern belle within her showing. “Nah. He doesn’t look sexy when he’s working, so that’s not something I need to worry about.”
Elle chuckled and then sat on the couch that Alexa and I had recently gotten for the office. “So, anyway, I’m not sure if Everett asked you or not but I was sort of wondering if you’re coming to my wedding?”
Alexa glanced at me. “Of course, I am. I can’t let this doll go on a wedding dateless. A handsome chap like him, I’m sure girls would be flocking all over him.”
She said it with such a southern drawl that I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Eleanor watched the two of us, amusement dancing in her light brown eyes. “So, if you’re coming, then I’m sure you wouldn’t mind being his partner? My friend just informed me yesterday that she won’t be able to come for my wedding. So, I’m short of one bridesmaid and since Everett here has gotten himself a girl, Leo and I thought that it was fitting if we asked you.”
When I looked at Alexa, it was clear that she was surprised with the question. Sure, she had been invited to the wedding, but that had been because she was my ‘girlfriend’ and hence my plus one. But to be a bridesmaid for a couple that she barely knew would be quite surprising. Even I’d be surprised if I was in her position.
